Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is in London today to promote the Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals series in London and used his media availability to clarify comments he made about Oakland A's fans back on June 15. Comments which were met with nearly universal frustration, including from some of the biggest names who cover the sport.

One can see how people made the jump to seeing this as a dig at Athletics fans who have been noticeably absent from their home park for quite some time. Playing cleanup nine days later, though, Manfred explained that he was taken out of context and struck a more somber tone.

Video exists of Manfred's first crack at this so the out-of-context route was really the only way to go. You can judge for yourself if the totality of his statements on the issue reflect a different stance or if he's simply trying to save face. Perhaps the best thing he has going for him is that it'd be absolutely wild to say what he said into a microphone knowing the reaction.

This article was originally published on thebiglead as Rob Manfred: My Comments on Oakland A's Fans Were Taken Out of Context.